Press Release

Jim Steiner on the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall in Newport this Week

Release Date: Jul 2 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   July 2, 2008   Press Release to Limited Addressees:   West Pointer and former Army Green Beret Jim Steiner, now a candidate for the 2nd Cong. District, offered these comments on the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall arriving at Newport, N.H.:   "It is the Vietnam veterans that trained me as a second lieutenant. This Wall commemorates the sacrifices by their comrades who did not return. I heard their stories in my platoon command post, and among the Vietnam vet Green Berets with whom I served.  Whether they served and lost their lives, or served and returned, the Wall helps us to remember their service and sacrifice.  Every one of these guys made history. I am proud to have served among them, including my first platoon sergeant, SSG Octaviano Aguilar, veteran of five tours in Vietnam, and SFC Serafin Meno and SFC Johnny Holman, the NCOs who recommended I volunteer to become a Green Beret.    Veterans Day 1987, I visited the Wall in Washington, D.C. It was the fifth-year anniversary since its dedication. Vietnam veterans crowded the area, and many tears were observed.  The quiet and still of the site would be broken only by the soft words "welcome home brother" as Vietnam-era Vets found one another and found comrades who never made it back.  The Wall in D.C., and this Moving Wall is for them, the families and also for all of us to remember that freedom is not free, and it is the sacrifice by our Armed Forces that ensures our freedom every day."